Hornmasters: Merewether, Tuckwell, and Bushhouse on Care and Maintenance

This brief series on care and maintenance concludes today with notes from three more classic horn publications.

Richard Merewether in The horn, the horn…, after explaining how to oil valve bearings and linkages, adds a note of caution about clanking valves.

It must be borne in mind that any undue clicking in a valve-movement denotes wear taking place, and this should be corrected without delay. Apart from violent injury there is no clear limit to the efficient functioning of well-made and well-maintained instruments, and with care they should survive far longer than is commonly (and sadly) the case…. Valve-work on horns is made to precise tolerances and MUST be treated with the utmost care; in the event of any trouble it is imperative that expert advice be sought straight away.

Barry Tuckwell suggest in Horn that “Great care should be taken to avoid denting the horn.” It should “never be placed on a chair or near the edge of a table,” there is a great chance in any fall of twisting and distorting the horn in ways that only an expert can repair.

Maintaining the horn, however, is a very simple matter, basically a matter of frequent and generous lubrication. There are many expensive lubricants and greases available, but underneath all the fancy packaging they are petroleum products of varying consistencies…. If they are used once a day, or whenever the horn is played, there will be only imperceptible wear on the bearings and corrosion will be kept in check. Anything containing animal fat, such as lanolin, should be avoided.

In Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn David Bushouse offers advice for the care of the horn, including oiling and stringing valves, and offers an interesting method to run water through a horn for purposes of giving it a thorough cleaning.

A better way to force water through the horn requires a hose, a bathtub, and a sink. Buy a length of clear vinyl tubing or latex rubber tubing, eight to twelve feet in length, 3/8 inch in diameter. Fill the sink with lukewarm water, place the horn on a towel in the bathtub, and pull all the slides out as far as possible without removing them. Start a siphon with the hose from the sink to the tub and connect the hose to the mouthpipe of the horn. Place a large amount of liquid dish detergent in the water in the sink, then work the valves as the solution is forced through the horn. Keep water running into the sink, lay the horn on the valve levers and wedge the thumb valve halfway down so that water goes through both horns. After fifteen minutes or longer, flush clean water through at least five minutes to rinse completely. Remove all the slides, pour the water out of the body of the horn, and dry with a towel. Grease all the slides, assemble the horn, and oil the valves thoroughly. The next day, oil again to replace the protective coating of oil on the inside of the tubing and valves.